The Other Side #5

As usual with this writer, a short, angsty piece. PGP hurt/comfort.
Cautious rapprochement -- can they ever forgive each other?

Unbecoming Conduct - From the Archives of the Rat Cellar

PWP. Servalan shows us how she keeps (one of) her troopers in line.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - ?

The Shakespeare plot with a science-fictiony gloss. Blake, Jenna,
Cally and Avon as the confused quartet of lovers, "O'Vron" and
"Etania" as their alien or faery selves, and Vila as Bottom (although
he seems to be a better lover than you could imagine in the case of a
workman with a donkey's head). A fluff -- pans out much as you'd
expect really, everything sorted out by the final curtain.

Xenophiles (J/ocf, oc?) - xBryn Lantry

A wonderfully piratical and restless Jenna, and excellent sensual
imagery of quasi-erotic love between different species. One of my
favourite stories in this 'zine.

The Lady in Red (A/?) - Falcon d'Arenberg

Unconvincingly romantic hazy 2-page fluff between Avon and "the lady
in red". The point of it is apparently that the identity of "the lady
in red" is a surprise, but the characterisation of the pair of them is
so weak that it doesn't really work for me. No dialogue during the
romantic bit, just very soft-focus description... you can tell this
isn't my sort of thing, can't you?

Roj's Rebels (gen) - Adrian Butcher

Very silly piss-take played for broad farce. Doesn't push buttons for
my particular sense of humour, but I'm sure somebody will find it
amusing...

If Wishes Were... (A/D) - Margaret Pitcher

Another one inspired by the "Avon chained to a Pillar" illo. Dayna is
trying the more obscure reaches of the dream simulator to get what she
wants from Avon. Doesn't work, but she's determined to keep trying...

On Sauterne (A/V) - Severely Weird

A splendidly loopy piss-take of the "Avon needs a Teddy Bear" school
of slash fiction. The riotously overwritten sex scenes remind me of
London Bates for some reason. Excellent moment when Avon notices
Vila's teddy bear tattoo and realises the factual basis of a few
drugged hallucinations he once had: "...that was you as
WELL??!!'[....] "I dreamed of Anna... Anna with a tattoo!!'"

Mirror Image (A/Se) - Susan Clarke/Venessa Kelly

Servalan, with, apparently, a very sweet, innocent clone of Avon.
However, she doesn't know the whole truth.

First Person (A/ocm, A/V) - London Bates

I don't believe it! A London Bates story with Blake dead! However,
along comes the Baron, who is powerful, masculine... and looks exactly
like Blake except that he's a natural redhead. Business as usual,
then. Vila (and the Baron) help Avon back to sanity after Gauda Prime.

Ill-Met By Moonlight - from the archives of the Rat Cellar

Very silly fluff. Nice punchline - which I won't give away.

At Each Other's Throats Again (A/B) - xBryn Lantry

Even xBryn's fluffs are memorable. I think of this as a vampire
companion piece to the werewolf in _The Howling_ (_Southern Comfort
6.5). Excellent humour and dialogue. One of my two favourite stories
in this 'zine.